Wednesday, May 09, 2012

World Sources

Most of my story ideas begin with a character, but occasionally something else sparks my imagination: music (Blade Dancer), dreams (If Angels Burn) and art (Nightborn.) Regarding the latter, every year I go to a particular art show to see John Galbo, one of my favorite artists. His work is a constant source of inspiration for mine, and it was one of his gorgeous photos of the French countryside, Le Mistral, that initially gave me the idea for Nightborn.

The three elements in Le Mistral are very simple but striking: a field of lavender ready to be harvested, a lovely old manor house, and a storm brewing over the mountains in the distance. Whenever I've looked at this print on the wall in my office, I've always wondered who lived in that house, and how many storms they've weathered. One day I decided to answer those questions, and wrote the first outline for Nightborn.

Finding inspiration with which you can build an entire world isn't difficult as long as you pay close attention to your reactions to it. Does the source invoke a strong emotional response in you? This is important, and it should be passionate enough to keep you from being distracted by other bright, shiny ideas. Also, your passion will translate onto the page and communicate itself to the reader; not something you ever want to be tepid. Are you curious about the source? For you to base a world on something, there should a significant storytelling opportunity already there, looking you in the eye, and you should really want to jump on it. And finally, are you willing to take the time to explore it? You can't build a world in one day or with one glance, so you have to make a commitment. Outlining, researching, drafting -- you're looking at months, even years of work here.

Revisiting the point about emotional response: you can build your world based on anything -- I once wrote a 100K+ novel inspired solely by the words carnival geek -- but if you're not passionate about the source of your inspiration, you're probably going to lose interest in it. If you think of world-building as a love affair between your imagination and the object of its affections, then you can better judge whether or not to dive in. You don't fall in love based on a nice, lukewarm, ho-hum response to something, nor should you world-build that way.

4 comments:

Thank you for the introduction to this artist. I admit I'd never heard of him, but I went to his web site and checked out the gallery. I loved his impressionist prints especially "family" and "quiet moments".

Art is very much an "I know what I like" issue and I'm pleased to say I like this artist very much. Thank you.

When I was in the netherlands last year, the city inspired me to pick up and finish Sascha's novel. ( that one I struggled with during our FM years!) and during the latter part of my long stay, I started seeing the city through the character's eyes.

And this continued through all my travel. I started a tumblr blog to post pics from those moments, sometimes with no commentary, sometimes a little ultra short scene, snippets, a voice from the writer on why that picture/image, place, moment in time inspired me, some photos grabbed from other sources, some writerly ramblings and what I find I have forming is a pretty awesome mosaic of the world my characters inhabit.

And I did a LOT of travel last year, and still do. But now i'm watching with my eyes, and theirs.

Passion is the reason I finally decided to blow off what I've been assured are "marketable" settings for my genre (which mostly inspire me to avoid writing) and concentrate on a postapocalyptic world (about which I will go on like a total spaz to anyone who doesn't squirt me with a hose). Life is too short (or too long, depending on my attitude toward that half-glass of water on a given day) to waste any more of it writing about a world that doesn't excite me.